The women's rugby club showed great improvement over the year as it trains and prepares to match the record of the 1995 women's team.
Last year had been the best season in the team's history, co-Captain Elisabeth Kann '96 said.
"They were the top team in New England and the Ivy League Champions," she said. "They played in the Eastern Championships and lost by two points."
"It was really rough this year because we lost 11 starters," she added. "It was a tough record to carry over. It set a precedence that next year's team would like to carry on."
Under the leadership of co-Captains Kann and Jenny Bentwood '96 and President Dawn Elliott '96, the team showed tremendous growth as players and as a team this year.
"I think the amount of improvement in my team is phenomenal," Kann said. "We came in with only four seniors so that meant 11 new starters. Every single game we played saw a huge amount of improvement."
An end of the season near-win against Radcliffe College demonstrated the amount of improvement the team had accomplished. Radcliffe later went on to nationals.
"We were fresh this year," Sariya Sharp '97 said. "With only four seniors there were a lot of '99s and '98s. It was a building year."
"The fall went really well," Kann said. "We have a lot of new players in a lot of key positions. We got off to a really strong start which is why we had a really solid spring."
During spring break, the team takes a "tour" to travel and play against exceptional rugby teams.
This year, the team traveled to France. Accepting tough competition, the team got a little more than it bargained for and ended up playing the women's French national club champions.
"We had a great time on tour. It gave us a chance to get together and practice. We had a strong showing in the spring because of tour," Kann said.
"Playing against the French National Club Champions was a good learning experience," Allison Carter '98 said. "The game was such a disaster. We lost 160-0. We had a good time."
The team had some internal conflicts that were resolved over tour, Carter said.
"We started spring right," she said. "It was a humbling experience."
Spring season gave the rugby team a chance to demonstrate the new skills they had learned while on tour.
The rugby team plays in New England Division I in the fall, Carter said. In the spring, games are arranged by the team.
"We showed great improvement. We improved over the course of the year," Carter said.
"Next year will be even better," Sharp added.
The new captain for next year is Cindy Bellefeuille '97. Next year's president is Rachell Katz '97.
